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Friday, 13 September 2013

Right, so Joe and I thought we had to move out in October, only one month from now! Then, about a month ago, we got a letter through the post saying that our contract would go over to a kind of rolling contract… We can stay and we only have to give one month's notice if we want to leave. Apparently the first letter we got about having to move in October was just a way of saying that October is when our lease is up! (They really could have worded that letter differently!)

So anyway. Joe and I talked about it; I kind of want to move to a smaller place that will be slightly cheaper to keep warm in winter, Joe wants to stay as he feels like this is a home and it's too much hassle to move… I agree with the hassle bit.

So we are staying.

For now.

I figured I should give him his will for once.

Since we just have to give one month's notice if we want to leave I agreed to see how it goes with the heating bill in autumn and the start of winter. However, I also told Joe that rather than turning the heating on as soon as he's a bit chilly he can put some clothes on…. Meaning I will have to do the same… I need to buy some warm clothes for myself! (Damn it, I don't like shopping!)

I'll admit, I'm slightly tempted to just move out, but it is starting to feel a little bit like a home, and if I did move out I would have to get money for a new deposit and for someone with a van to move my stuff so that would cost money as well. And I would still have to share with someone to actually make it cheap enough. I guess we'll just have to see how it goes.

One thing that really bugs me about all this is that I sold my dining room table! I thought we would have to move out, we had only used it three times, and I wanted a smaller place so I decided to sell it. Fair enough, I got to go to Bristol with the money I got for it, but as it turns out I didn't actually need to sell it! Of course now it's gone we both wish we had it again. Oh well.

I'm not even sure what I'm hoping will happen. Part of me is wanting to stay in this house as I'm tired of moving around, while another part of me almost hopes the heating bill will be too high and that we will have to move to a smaller, cheaper place, just so I will have more money left of my wages after paying the bills. It's not too bad though, I can manage, touch wood.

Until yesterday I hadn't been to Nottingham since early 2007 when I worked as an au pair, so it was nice to go back and see it again as I can't really remember much from last time. It was also nice to have someone that lives in Nottingham to show me around.

One of the things my friend Mark and I did was to walk along the canal. I don't think that's a thing I would have though of doing if I was just walking around on my own for only a day, but it was a really nice walk and we even saw someone using the locks which I have never seen before!

We also did the city of caves tour. Apparently they do a guided tour on weekends but we just got an audio guide and walked around the caves on our own. It doesn't take very long, I thought the audio guide was a lot longer than it needed to be but at least we learned a lot about the caves. I actually didn't even know about the caves until Mark told me. Because we are both UK tax payers we filled in a form which allows us to go back for free for a year, so maybe I'll go back one weekend and do a guided tour, I tend to take more in when I'm listening to an actual person instead of just a recorded voice.

I was only in Nottingham for a few hours, but at least I live fairly close so I will have to try and get back more often. I wasn't in the mood for shopping yesterday but I might go back before Christmas to see if I can find some presents in any of the many interesting shops. I also want to go to the castle when I go to Nottingham again. I went to the castle in 2007 but can't really remember anything from it.

If you are ever in Nottingham you should try out a place called Delilahs for lunch. The food there is absolutely gorgeous! A bit expensive (depending on your budget) but you get giant portions and it's absolutely worth it! And, no, I've not been paid to write that. It's not the kind of place I would normally go to for lunch as you can tell it's expensive just by looking at it, but I would definitely go back!

I'm not a city person but I quite like Nottingham, I'd rather go there than spend a fortune going to London. I guess it's because Nottingham doesn't seem that busy for a city, it might just be because I went in the week rather than on a weekend, but I also think it's because it's so spread out. The train station is a bit of a nightmare but they are still doing work on it so hopefully it will get better.

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